From Wednesday, January 22nd until Sunday, January 26th, Vancouver’s original street food gathering will be taking over the North Plaza at the Art Gallery with over 23 food trucks that will be on rotation over the 5 days of Street Food City III.

If you’re a food truck fiend like me, you visit a city with a list of the food trucks you want to find before you leave. As the food truck scene explodes across North America, it can be tricky to sort through your growing options and decide which are the best local food trucks, before you even attempt to hit your must-taste goals.

Although I usually go rogue, I decided to let Vancouver Foodie Tours show me some of Vancouver’s best food trucks on their Word’s Best Street Eats tour. Since I’m already familiar with Vancouver’s street food scene, it seemed like a good way to determine if a food truck tour can deliver a good sampling of city’s food trucks.

The World’s Best Street Eats tour runs for two hours on week days and weekends. Tickets are $49 a head and include the food; kids under 12 are $39. The tour visits five to six downtown Vancouver food trucks. The trucks rotate, depending on day, from their pool of participating trucks. Just to give you an idea, regulars include: Japadog, Soho Road Naan Kebab, Tacofino, Mom’s Grilled Cheese and Kaboom Box.

Vancouver’s street food scene is on fire right now. What better way to taste the new street food options than to attend Vancouver’s annual summer Food Cart Fest?

Food Cart Fest launches Sunday, June 23 and continues every Sunday through September 22. The wildly-popular event is as tasty as it sounds. 20 of Vancouver’s finest food trucks come together to dish up snacks and meals including deluxe grilled cheese, wood-fired pizza, fusion fish tacos, wild BC-sourced fish and chips, and Aussie hand pies. The trucks circle around communal tables. Add an ocean view, a community market, live music, DJs, more craft food vendors, and kids’ activities and Food Cart Fest is a full day’s worth of fun.

In 2012, about 5,000 foodies and summer fun seekers ventured out to Food Cart Fest at the Waldorf in East Van each weekend. This year, the organizers (Arrival Agency) and the city worked to find a more central location to entrap even more hungry Vancouverites. In 2013, Food Cart Fest takes place at at 215 West 1st Avenue. The festival is adjacent to the Cambie Street Bridge and Olympic Village; between West 1st Avenue and the seawall. If you’re taking public transport, Food Cart Fest is just a short walk from the Canada Line’s Olympic Village Station; the Aquabus’ Spyglass Place Dock; and bus routes along Broadway, Cambie, Main, and West 2nd Avenue.

Something good is brewing in Chinatown. Can you feel it? Chinatown’s young creatives have teamed up with the Vancouver Chinatown Merchant’s Association to breathe new life into the Vancouver Chinatown Night Market. We don’t have to wait much longer to experience the revamp. The official Chinatown Night Market Grand Opening takes place this Saturday, June 1 from 6-11pm, on Keefer Street between Columbia and Main.

For those who grew up attending the Vancouver Chinatown Night Market, set in Canada’s largest Chinatown, many of usual food and trinket vendors are returning. The new vendors joining them are adding a mish-mash of eclectic and handmade wares including vintage clothing, stationary, crafts, artisan ice cream and soap.

To me, the most game-changing element to the revitalized Chinatown Night Market is the summer event schedule. You can read more about the full schedule of cultural events ranging from outdoor movies to storytelling in my post on the Vancouver Chinatown Night Market soft launch.

The Vancouver Chinatown Night Market revamp is one of the most anticipated events on the 2013 Vancouver calendar. As you’ve probably heard from the buzz around town, Vancouver creative Ken Tsui and Bao Bei owner Tannis Ling have teamed up with the Vancouver Chinatown Merchant’s Association to revitalize the beloved 18-year-old market that takes place every summer, attracting 100,000 visitors to Keefer Street between Main and Columbia.

The grand opening is scheduled for June 1; the Vancouver Chinatown Night Market soft opening takes place this Friday, May 17. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to wait any longer to check out the new program.

What’s different about Vancouver Chinatown Night Market 2013? The organisers have worked hard to curate something distinctly Vancouver. While there’s no denying the super-size appeal of Vancouver’s younger summer night markets (Richmond Night Market and the International Summer Night Market) Vancouver Chinatown Night Market is going for a more original community flavour. Expect a heady mix of old-meets-new including elements from traditional Chinatown markets, along with fresh vendors, an outside-of-the-box entertainment schedule, food trucks and more.

Inside Vancouver is a multi-author blog, written by Vancouverites about Vancouver. Our goal is to give an insider’s view of Vancouver, to provide information, stories and opinions from the locals’ perspective about this great city.